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ot; DRILLING 1.25"diameter hole with hole saw through quartzite. I need to drill several 1.25 Diameter holes through. a quarztite shower surround.

Bill D

Diamond
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Location
Modesto, CA USA
Site does not allow me to add more to my original message soo.. I will use flood water coolant. Chipping is not a concern. This is to mount grab bars. Stud finder does not work. I would guess quartzite is one inch thick or so. It is not quartz which is all I can find info about. That info is it is hard!
Bill D
 
There are two ways to do this. One is the use a stud finder on the wall above the quartz and level down. Or the way I did mine to ensure no issues is to just cut the dry wall on the wall behind. Dry wall is easy to patch and that way you are 100% sure where the studs are. Also you can screw a 2"x4" block to the stud so there is an additional 1.5" to screw into.
 
I have drilled holes in granite with a diamond hole saw,using drip coolant (a 5-gallon bucket, a ladder, and a plastic tube).
Have you considered drilling and tapping the material itself? I did that once in my parent's bathroom in their house. I don't know if it met code requirements or not, but it worked.
Rick
 
I installed hand rails in a bathroom in my house. It had some kind of thick, imitation stone material for the shower walls and I had to find the studs. I used a stack of about 5 or 6 neo magnets to find them. The imitation stone was about 1/2" thick but the magnets did not work through it. So I went above where there was only dry wall and was able to locate two screws or nails there for each stud. The stacks of neo magnets stuck to the dry wall screws so I hung string with weights from the magnets and was able to hit both studs with no problems.

I have no advise on the type of drill needed for your material but I bet a hardware store or home supply store will.



There are two ways to do this. One is the use a stud finder on the wall above the quartz and level down. Or the way I did mine to ensure no issues is to just cut the dry wall on the wall behind. Dry wall is easy to patch and that way you are 100% sure where the studs are. Also you can screw a 2"x4" block to the stud so there is an additional 1.5" to screw into.
 
Further info, the quartzite is floor to ceiling on an outside wall. I really do not want to penetrate the outside stucco and hope to seal it leak free. It looks hard and glassy much harder looking then slate.
Diamond bits huh. Maybe time to hire it out.
Bill D
 
Further info, the quartzite is floor to ceiling on an outside wall. I really do not want to penetrate the outside stucco and hope to seal it leak free. It looks hard and glassy much harder looking then slate.
Diamond bits huh. Maybe time to hire it out.
Bill D
Maybe forget holes, and use some high performance adhesive like fusor to glue the grab rails onto the substrate.
 
Further info, the quartzite is floor to ceiling on an outside wall. I really do not want to penetrate the outside stucco and hope to seal it leak free. It looks hard and glassy much harder looking then slate.
Diamond bits huh. Maybe time to hire it out.
Bill D
Then you need a diamond hole saw. Get a sintered segment version vs brazed single layer, quartzite is much tougher than granite to cut. If doing it yourself let us know as there are tricks to avoid pitfalls/fuckups, until you get the hole started these tools like to walk around with devastating results.

Joe, quartzites are natural stones, both varieties. The harder than granite ones are the hardest to machine of any of the nateral stones.
 
Buy the appropriate size diamond hole saw.

I recently drilled a pair of 3" holes through hard brick. Not fun, but I was on a ladder leaning into the wall. First used silicon carbide (HF ~$40), but the bit was not long enough, so I bought a longer diamond bit (~$120) which I used for the second hole. I had to cut dry for practical reasons. Effort was about the same. IIRC it took about 40-60 minutes for the 2nd hole. The first involved a lot of bashing with hammer and chisel to finish the job because of the too short hole saw.

FWIW Quartzite is quartz cemented quarz sandstone with zero porosity. So from a mechanical perspective it's like cutting pure quartz. Granite is defined as >10% quartz. Most of granite is feldspar which is much softer.

"Black granite" surface plates contain 0% quartz. The proper name is "gabbro". It's primarily feldspar with a few other minerals to give it the black color. The volcanic equivalent is "basalt" such as one sees in Hawaii or the Pacific NW.
 








 
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